Hi, I'm going to Florida to do my PPL and night rating (maybe my IMC) and about 60-70 hours of hour building at the very beginning of February.

Does anyone know roughly how long this will take me, as I now have to book my plane ticket, but am quite unsure of what return date to book it for!

Thanks,
Matt.

Ninety-Nines

8th Jan 2005, 15:08

JAA PPL dependant on previous study time - 3 to 4 weeks
JAA Night rating can be incorporated into the 4 weeks
CAA IMC - 7 to 10 days again depandant on your skills
Hours building - normally allowing 6 days flying to allow one day off (you will need it!) allow 18 to 21 days.

As a word of advice, you will need to attain an FAA PPL to be allowed to hours build P1 therefore allow another 3 to 5 days for this and an approx cost for the conversion from the school that you are attending.

All in all I would suggest that you book your ticket for 9-10 weeks.

Good luck and most of all, my recommendation is make use of the hours.........travel away from base for the last 40 to 50 hours once you have built up some confidence. Normally our students travel across the US whether North or West and they return far more experienced than the pilots who do not travel out of the State.

Nikki

flighttime2.0

8th Jan 2005, 15:21

Hi thejakes

Well first of all It depends on yourself especially on how much you want to put into your hour building , do you want to fly 3 or 4 or 5 hours a day ? it can be quite exhausting at times .

Also have you done the ppl exams before you go out there ? that will hurry up the process also but here is a rough estimate for for you.

PPl licence : 4 weeks ( three if you have the exams already )

night rating : 3 days

Imc rating : 2 weeks ( personally would not bother with it )

60 / 70 hours : 4 weeks ( thats if you want to enjoy it but can be done quicker )

total time : 11 weeks

Ill mention that this all depends on the school that you are going to ! how many planes do they have ? ( are you going to be sitting around the school waiting for a warrior thats been shared by 20 other students )
Planes go tech , be prepared for the 100 hour service or breakdowns waiting for your plane to come back from the workshop !!!!

If I was in your situation , which I have been in the past I would be allowing about 13 to 14 weeks or else book a ticket that allows a date change at a low penalty or an open ended ticket ..